Leicas Revisited

About a year ago I posted some photos of my grandfather’s old film cameras. I think I’ve correctly identified most of them: Leica II (black), Leica IIIA (silver), a Rollei Baby, and a Beauty Super II.

I took the Leicas into a very good camera shop and asked if I could put them back into action. The people in the service/repairs department unanimously shook their heads no. I thought they were indicating that you couldn’t get film for the Leicas. I don’t have them in front of me, but I remember the film cartridge/uptake looking pretty unusual. But I have done some other looking online, and I have seen that people are still using their Leica IIIAs from around 1937. I wonder if the camera shop thought I was asking if they could repair them.

I’m going to try and get a second opinion. Before I ask my parents to send me the silver IIIA, does anyone know any Leica experts who could tell me if there are some IIIA models that would not work today because of obsolete/unique parts? I read on one site about a possible issue with the cartridge, something having to do with V1 vs V2.